bake - December 2019 - 25

For Southern California's
iconic Porto's Bakery,
the future is brighter than ever.
BY JOHN UNREIN
Do the math. When someone wants to order a birthday

Product innovation and exceptional customer service

cake, it means they are probably only going to visit your

lead the way for Porto's. Most recently, prior to

The elegant Porto's

bakery once a year. "With sandwiches and a cafe, they

Thanksgiving, the bakery introduced a seasonal take

Bakery & Cafe

are going to visit 10 to 20 times more often," points

on its popular potato balls with a turkey and gravy

location in Buena

out Raul Porto, owner of Porto's Bakery & Cafe, one of

variety. Typically made with a mashed potato ball

Park, California, is

America's largest and most successful retail bakeries.

ﬁlled with picadillo (ground beef, onions, peppers,

the most pho-

and Spanish seasonings) which is then breaded and

tographed retail

Starting from humble beginnings (the bakery's

fried, the Thanksgiving adaptation features a turkey

store in America,

ﬁrst storefront opened in 1976), Porto's has risen

ﬁlling instead.

according to Yelp.

to a world-class operation with ﬁve Southern
California locations, with a sixth scheduled to open in

Porto's newest store in West Covina, California,

Northridge, California, in 2021.

which opened April 30, features a modern building
that offers a welcoming environment for customers,

"We have a nation where food is becoming more

featuring a butterﬂy roof design and skylights. Inside,

and more important. People are searching for unique

Italian showcase cabinets highlight the bakery's

independent stores," says Porto, a budding optimist

exquisite pastries.

with a keen eye on the future. "On one weekend day,
we may see 20,000 customers."

Three new offerings exclusive to the West Covina
location are mango tres leches, chocolate croissant

Add to this, Porto's introduced its ﬁrst online storefront

twist and fresh blueberry croissant. When the bakery

in 2018 called Porto's Bake at Home, which ships top-

opened in Buena Park, they started with unique items

selling signature pastries like potato balls and meat

like ojo de tigre, double chocolate muffin and quesa-

pies as a frozen, unbaked product directly to consumer

dilla individual, which ultimately become permanent

homes. "We've sold into every state except Alaska

menu items.

and Hawaii," the bakery owner says. "If you become
popular online, your business really explodes."

Mango mousse cake layers are produced at Porto's
central bakery and are shipped to the bakery's

Raul Porto points out proudly that they have an

Southern California retail locations. At each store,

average customer rating of 4.7 (on a 5-point scale)

bakers efficiently assemble the cakes and decorate

on social media, on which the bakery boasts nearly 1

them with several types of fresh fruit. These delicious

million active followers. Yelp reported that last year

mango mousse cakes consist of two layers of Cuban

Porto's Buena Park location (opened in 2017) was the

sponge cake, each soaked with mango syrup and two

most photographed store in America, beating out the

layers of fresh mango mousse, coated with mango

fountains at The Bellagio in Las Vegas.

glaze, decorated with an assortment of glazed exotic
fresh fruits and ﬁnished with dried coconut.

A fusion of food cultures
Porto's retail stores sell a whopping 1.5 million

Porto's continues to innovate in product development

cheese rolls and 600,000 potato balls each month.

with each new store. One European-inspired dessert

bakemag.com | DEC 2019 > 25
http://www.bakemag.com
bake - December 2019

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